In-building and out-of-building personal reach communications system

Abstract

In a personal reach telephone service in which a calling party's telephone call to a personal reach telephone number of a called party/subscriber is bridged to a return call placed by the called party/subscriber in response to a page which indicates to the called party/subscriber the presence of a waiting call, a connection is established between a bridging and signaling unit associated with the interexchange network to which the calling party is directed, and the home PBX associated with the called party/subscriber. After establishing the connection between the bridging and signaling unit and the home PBX, a determination is made, using two-way paging technology, whether the pager associated with the called party/subscriber is registered within the local area covered by the home PBX. If the pager is registered in the local area, then the calling party's call is connected directly to the PBX and a local page is broadcast to the called party/subscriber. If the called party/subscriber responds to the local page by means of a return telephone call to the PBX, then the calling party's call and the called party/subscriber's return call are bridged together by the local PBX and the bridging and signaling equipment associated with the interexchange network is disconnected. If the pager associated with the called party/subscriber is not registered in the local area, then a nationwide page is broadcast and a return call to the bridging and signaling equipment associated with the network is bridged to the calling party's call.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for use in completing a telephone call from a calling party that is placed to a personal telephone number of a called party/subscriber, the method comprising the steps of: receiving said calling party's call at a meet-me bridge that bridges two calls together;   determining the home PBX of the called party/subscriber from the personal telephone number called by the caller in response to receiving said calling party's call;   establishing a connection between the meet-me bridge and the home PBX of the called party/subscriber; and   determining whether the called party/subscriber is within an area local to the home PBX of the called party/subscriber at the time said calling party's call is received.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining whether the called party/subscriber is within an area local to the home PBX comprises the step of using two-way paging technology to determine whether a pager associated with the called party/subscriber is within the area local to the home PBX. 
     
     
       3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of connecting the calling party's call directly to the home PBX if the called party/subscriber is determined to be within the area local to home PBX. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 3 further comprising the steps of: if called party/subscriber is determined to be within the area local to the home PBX, locally paging the called party/subscriber within the area local to the home PBX to alert the called party/subscriber that a telephone call is waiting;   if the called party/subscriber is responsive to the local page, receiving a return telephone call from the called party/subscriber at the home PBX; and   bridging together at the home PBX the telephone call from the calling party and the called party/subscriber's return telephone call.   
     
     
       5. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of disconnecting the connection between the meet-me bridge and the home PBX. 
     
     
       6. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of disconnecting the connection between the meet-me bridge and the home PBX if a return telephone call from the called party/subscriber is received at the home PBX. 
     
     
       7. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of determining whether the pager associated with the called party/subscriber is within an area local to the home PBX of the called party/subscriber comprises the step of determining whether the pager is registered in the local area. 
     
     
       8. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of connecting the call from the calling party to a voice mailbox associated with the called party/subscriber's home PBX and belonging to the called party/subscriber if the called party is determined to be within the area local to the home PBX and the called party/subscriber is not responsive to the local page within a predetermined time. 
     
     
       9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of: initiating a nationwide page to the pager if it is determined that the called party/subscriber is not within the area local to the called party/subscriber's home PBX;   receiving a return telephone call from the called party/subscriber at the meet-me bridge in response to the nationwide wide; and   bridging together at the meet-me bridge the calling party's call and the return call.   
     
     
       10. In a personal reach telephone system in which a call from a calling party to a called party/subscriber's personal reach telephone number is bridged to a return call placed by the called party/subscriber in response to a page to a pager associated with the called party/subscriber which page indicates to the called party/subscriber that a call from a calling party has been placed to the called party/subscriber's personal reach telephone number, a meet-me bridge being located in a bridging and signaling unit to which the call from the calling party is connected, the called party/subscriber being associated with a home PBX having meet-me bridging capabilities, a method comprising the steps of: establishing a connection between the bridging and signaling unit and the home PBX associated with the called party/subscriber in response to a call received at the bridging and signaling unit for the called party/subscriber; and   determining whether the called party/subscriber is within an area local to the home PBX at the time the call for the called party/subscriber is received.   
     
     
       11. The method of claim 10 wherein the pager is a two-way pager and the step of determining whether the called party/subscriber is within an area local to the home PBX comprises the step of using two-way paging technology to determine whether the pager is within the area local to the home PBX. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: if the called party/subscriber is determined to be within the area local to the home PBX, locally paging the called party/subscriber to alert the called party that a telephone call is waiting;   if the called party is responsive to the local page, receiving a return telephone call from the called party at the home PBX; and   bridging together at the home PBX the telephone call from the calling party and the called party's return telephone call.   
     
     
       13. The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: if the called party is determined not to be within the area local to the home PBX, broadcasting a nationwide page to the pager,   if the called party is responsive to the nationwide page, receiving a return telephone call at the meet-me bridge from the called party; and   bridging together at the meet-me bridge the calling party's call and the return telephone call.